A Hockey Australia Hall of Famer is set to bring a wealth of experience and expertise to guide the Perth Thundersticks Men’s squad to new heights.
Hockey WA and the Perth Thundersticks are pleased to announce that former Kookaburra Stephen Davies has been appointed as the new Head Coach of the Perth Thundersticks Men’s program.
As a player, Davies enjoyed an impressive international hockey career for Australia, playing 274 caps for the Kookaburras and scoring 151 goals.
Davies competed at three consecutive Olympic Games – winning silver in Barcelona 1992, and bronze in Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, won gold at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, competed at three consecutive World Cups – winning bronze twice, and won gold & silver medals across five Champions Trophy appearances.
Following his retirement in 2000, Davies enjoyed coaching stints for clubs and junior squads in WA and was part of the Hockeyroos coaching staff from 2012 to 2016.
A stellar hockey career earned Davies an induction into the Hockey NSW Hall of Fame in 2009 and was later inducted into the Hockey Australia Hall of Fame in 2016.
Davies was originally slated to coach the Perth Thundersticks for the 2020 Hockey One season, although the season was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Davies said he was looking forward to the exciting opportunity to coach the Perth Thundersticks Men’s team.
“It’s a team synonymous with being one of the most famous hockey centres in the country and probably still is the epicentre of hockey in Australia and the southern hemisphere with an extremely proud and rich history of producing results and great players,” he said.
“I’m really looking forward to the challenge and I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can produce.
“I think it’s an exciting time as far as the transition we have from potentially going into a younger group moving forward.
“It’s always exciting to see new young players coming through and on top of that, we have some very successful established players who are just great to watch play hockey and represent this state.”
“We’re thrilled to welcome Stephen to our coaching staff at Perth Thundersticks Men,” remarked Hockey WA CEO Fabian Ross.
“His extensive expertise and years of experience will be of great benefit to the program.”
Hockey One
